Wednesday, December 19, 2012

An Advent Calendar Start and a Gift for Annie!

Hello dear stitching friends from an extremely hot Cape Town!  We are having our first real heatwave of the season and it is set to continue for at least another few days -  I hope it will be a bit cooler over Christmas!

I have a fun Christmas start to share with you today: The Fairytale Advent Calendar by The Little Stitcher.  My mom spotted this piece a few weeks ago and we added it to the 'to do' list immediately!  My mom and I are combining efforts on this project - we each chose twelve designs to stitch.

The designs are really small and stitch up very quickly - just the thing so close to Christmas!  We are stitching it in recommended DMC threads on self-dyed 28ct evenweave.  The fabric is actually a bit darker than in the pictures and works so well for Christmas stitching.

Here is number 1 and number 2 - please note that the reindeer in no 1 still needs his backstitch antlers :)  I just love the little red cottage - it is so pretty!

Numbers 3 and 4 are both winter forest scenes - I love stitching snowy pieces when I'm 'trapped' in the heat!


Numbers 5 and 8 also still require backstitch - no 5 also needs antlers and in no 8 backstitch will add definition to the presents under the tree!  These designs are so much fun to stitch - whimsical and primitive - perfect!


I am also delighted to report that my holiday packages are starting to arrive at their destinations - I am always so relieved to hear that a package arrived safely!  This was my gift to dear Annie this year, including a handmade ornament, pillow and counting/marking pins:


You might recognize the little snowman ornament from my previous post!  I took a quick pic of this little freebie by Carmela on our Christmas tree before I packaged it:


Here is a closeup of a little lavender pillow included in the package:


I also added some aperture cards and raspberry fabric. 


That's it for now!  Enjoy the last few days until Christmas and Happy Stitching!

Michelle

10 comments:

cucki said...

Aww beautiful stitching and very cute ornies....hugs x

Annie said...

Love that Advent calendar. And how much fun is that to stitch it with your Mom! That will be a real treasure.

And thanks again for the beautiful gifts. I feel like one lucky stitcher!

Unknown said...

fantastic your ornament... Merry Chrstimas
Pat

Unknown said...

Piekne cuda robisz :) Zdrwoych i spokojnych Swiat Bozego Narodzenia :)

Mii Stitch said...

Super ornament, plenty of cute stitching!! Well done :)

Dani - tkdchick said...

Those advent pieces are adorable!!!

What a beautiful package!!! Any stitcher would be happy to receive that!

Michelle said...

Oh its lovely Michelle - you must let me know if you fancy meeting for coffee whilst we are in Cape Town in February x

Carol said...

I love the fact that you get to share the stitching of the Advent calendar with your mom, Michelle--you are lucky to share a hobby like stitching! Your gift to Annie is wonderful--I know she is thrilled to pieces with it :)

Hope things cool off over there--we are due for some snow just in time for Christmas!!

Siobhán said...

What a neat Advent calendar! It must be fun doing that with your mother--I wish my mother was interested in needlework. Beautiful gifts!

I hope things cool off a bit for the big day. :)

Tatkis said...

Wonderful ornaments and gifts!

Hugs,
Tatyana